BANGKOK – The police officer at Bangkok’s Prawet Police Station announced on May 14 the results of the identity verification of the driver who crashed into a road median and whose car caught fire on Saturday. The driver was identified as a 35-year-old Nigerian man named Daniel, whose Thai wife came to confirm his identity with the police.
This serious road accident occurred at 5:30 a.m. on May 11 on a three-lane road near Soi Phatthanakan 53/1, Suan Luang Subdistrict and District, Bangkok. When officials received the report and arrived at the scene, they found a gray Toyota Vios with Samut Prakan province license plates overturned and engulfed in flames, blocking the middle of the road.
The officers spent about 10 minutes spraying water to extinguish the fire, but the car was completely damaged by the flames.
At that time, rescuers had to use cutting and prying equipment to remove the driver’s body from the wreckage and send it to the Police Hospital for an autopsy. They found a document with a front-facing photo of a foreign man.
Eyewitnesses stated that they saw the car driving at high speed in the far right lane before losing control and crashing into the road median. The car spun and hit a palm tree with such force that it flipped over and ended up on its roof in the middle of the road. At that moment, good Samaritans tried to pry open the door to help the unconscious driver, but before they could pull him out, sparks ignited, and the car quickly caught fire.
According to the Thai Road Safety Center (Thai RSC), there were 240 foreigner died in road accidents in Thailand in 2024. Chiang Mai had the highest number with 26 deaths, followed by Phuket and Ratchaburi with 18 each, then Surat Thani and Chonburi with 15 each. Bangkok had 14 deaths.
As for injuries, there have been over 10,744 cases, with Phuket having the highest number at 2,541 and Bangkok at 1,648.
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